1594—Ferrara, Italy

Ercole Bottrigari asserts that there are 3 types of instruments according to their ability to tune: 1) “completely stable” instruments whose pitch could not be changed once they were tuned, like organs, harpsichords, and harps, 2) “stable but alterable” instruments whose pitch could be adjusted by a good player, like cornetts and flutes, and fretted string instruments like viols and lutes, and 3) “completely alterable” instruments whose pitch could be varied without restriction, like violins, trombones [tromboni], and human voices (Bottrigari/MacClintock 5, 15).